JATROPHA FOR BIOFUEL

Somebody who grows jatropha must have hired a PR firm because the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal both came out with in-depth pieces on it. And an Israeli agronomist picked up NewEnergyNews’ MIDWESTERN US & ISRAEL JOIN ON BIODIESEL IN ETHIOPIA to advocate for jatropha over castor oil.

Possibly revealing the differing priorities of the 2 newspapers, the Journal piece mentions nothing about the fear of land takeover described in the Times piece. On the contrary, the Journal describes an almost ideal relationship between big business and small landowner. Or would “paternalistic” better describe it?

The ethics of biofuels is a deep subject.

Jatropha Plant Gains Steam In Global Race for Biofuels; Hardy Shrub Is Tapped fir Energy-Rich Seeds; Indian Farmers’ Big Bet
Patrick Barta (w/Tariq Engineer and Binny Sabharwal), August 24, 2007 (Wall Street Journal)
and
Mali’s farmers discover a weed’s potential power
Lydia Polgreen, September 9, 2007 (NY Times)

WHO
Indian jatropha growers, Mali jatropha growers, biofuel investors all over the world

The uses of jatropha. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Jatropha fruit seeds contain a yellowish oil that can be turned into biodiesel fuel.

WHEN
- At a time when food crop raw materials for biofuel, like corn, are creating controversy because the fuel market drives price up in the food market.
- India and Mali have used jatropha in the past primarily as a hedge or to hold topsoil, though pre-industrial villagers found many uses for the oil.

WHERE
- The jatropha plant grows almost anywhere. It came to India from South America with Portuguese traders.
- Investors in Indian jatropha: UK-based BP ($90 million) and Australia’s Mission Fuels ($80 million).
- Other countries planting: Thailand, the Philippines, Swaziland, Saudi Arabia.
Mali

WHY
- The jatropha plan requires little water or fertilizer. In India, millions of acres of infertile, arid land can be put to use for biofuels. A jatropha plant can live 45 years.
- The Royal Tropical Institute of Amsterdam estimates there are 22,000 linear kilometers, or more than 13,000 miles, of jatropha in Mali.
- Cost of jatropha biofuel: $43/barrel, half of corn, 1/3 of rapeseed.
- Agronomists have not studied it in mass production. Output can vary and maximum efficiency to meet competition will require water resources and soil fertilization. But it generally avoids the competition-with-food-crops ethical/economic issue.
- The companies developing the crop charge farmers for the plant but not until the first cash harvest comes in, giving the farmer and the company a co-investment. Farmers in India who have been treated equitably, and not as guinea pigs in a jatropha experiment, are reportedly satisfied with initial results.
- The larger worry is that with the development of biofuel crops, big companies could come in and take over the land, driving small farmers off.

Jatropha has been around a long time. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- O.P. Singh, horticulturist, India Ministry of Railways: "This plant will save humanity, I tell you…every house will have jatropha!"
- Amit Sachdev, U.S. Grains Council: "Everybody is so excited, but is [jatropha] really happening? I'm not so sure…"
- P.P. Bhojvaid, senior fellow, The Eneergy and Research Institute (TERI) of India: "You can put it in any kind of soil, and it will grow…"
- Nathan Mahalingam, managing director, Mission Fuels: “[The use of food crops to make fuel] will only push up the price of food, and food has to win -- otherwise, the world will go into starvation…We want to stay clear of that, and that's why we're moving into jatropha."
- Aboubacar Samaké, director, Mali renewable energy project: “We are focused on solving our own energy problems and reducing poverty…If it helps the world, that is good, too.”